Keeping up with the Zullis, part one of my summer…

Michael insists that I blog, and in heading over to his site, I see that he is putting his money well where his mouth is. So here I am.

Things have been relentless since April. Most recently, I’ve been really wrestling with my optimism, and maintenance thereof. I’ve also learned some great things about diplomacy from Melissa Auf der Maur, and am trying to figure out how to balance those ideas with the brutal honesty I crave. San Diego Comic Con was wonderful, all said, but not using drugs does not equal sobriety, and the ways in which people fight tooth and nail to perpetuate a view of the world that makes them feel justified to be- well, to put it bluntly, shitty human beings- has shocked me once again. “I can’t control what people think of me” is a sentence that shouldn’t be used as a license to be a complete and utter asshole. Because one sure way to at least help increase your chances of people saying nice things about you is putting love and art above money and paranoia. But I digress, with MAdM tugging at my sleeve to get back on point.

The positives: well, there IS the Melissa Auf der Maur one, to begin- she really seems like one of the good ones. I enjoyed getting to know her. And for all the phone time I’ve had with Michael Zulli, this was the firs time we met face to face, and I have to say that I am deeply deeply in love with this man. You couldn’t make him up! Well, you could, but no one would believe it. Dave McKean’s wife is amazing, and I keep seeing new facets to Dave each time I am around him- each one making me understand more that his success- both as an artist, and as a man- are no accident.

I’d like to thank ABC news for running that four minute piece on us, but then I’d have to show it here, and having the Anti-Defamation league call us Nazi Sympathizers for carrying a parody poster about “secret Nazi mating camps” is best left in the past. But it was entertaining as hell. The image in question is HERE, if you’re curious…

So thanks to everyone who came out to San Diego- Jeremy Bastian remains a genius to the nth degree, I’m even more of a Steve Diet Goedde fan than I was before, the lines for Thomas Jane caused massive disruptions for security, MZ’s lady Karen is like a goddamn superhero (I love her as much as I do Michael), Lee Moyer is an Angel with a capital “A”, and thanks to God’s Girls and Reverend Mitcz for keeping the Haute Campe corner fun. Michaelanne, Jack, and Sioux came through in a big way, they are like marathon runners, and I continue to take Gail and Stuart for granted, thank God they know how much I need them, haha!

Enough with words, I never blogged about Artropolis, the movie deal, or what is coming next month, so I just need to let some pictures to the talking to try to recap five months of life and get back on schedule. Love to you all, and yes- my optimism remains intact. I am lucky to have had the parents I did, and the friends that I do. Check it out…